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Meet 90-year-old Margaret Keenan from Northern Ireland's Enniskillen, who received first Pfizer shot

Margaret Keenan has lived in Coventry for more than 60 years. She has a son, a daughter, and four grandchildren. She is a former jewellery shop assistant who retired just four years ago and would turn 91 next week.

COVID-19 vaccine, Margaret Keenan, Northern Ireland, Pfizer, First Lady to get covid shot, BioNtech, COVID-19, May Parsons, Coventry, Boris Johnson, / Dec 8, 2020 / 02:58 PM IST
Margaret Keenan - former jewellery shop assistant who only retired four years ago and would turn 91 next week - getting Pfizer vaccine in England's Coventry.

Margaret Keenan - former jewellery shop assistant who only retired four years ago and would turn 91 next week - getting Pfizer vaccine in England's Coventry.

A 90-year-old grandmother from Northern Ireland's Enniskillen - Margaret Keenan - has become the first patient in the world to receive the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine.

She received the first COVID-19 shot at her local hospital in England's Coventry at 6.31 am from nurse May Parsons.

Commonly referred to as Maggie by her family and friends, Keenan has lived in Coventry in the West Midlands for more than 60 years. She has a son, a daughter, and four grandchildren. She is a former jewellery shop assistant who retired just four years ago and would turn 91 next week.

British grandma Margaret Keenan is first in world to get Pfizer vaccine outside trial

"I feel so privileged to be the first person vaccinated against COVID-19, it's the best early birthday present I could wish for because it means I can finally look forward to spending time with my family and friends in the new year after being on my own for most of the year," BBC quoted Margaret Keenan as saying.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

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How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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Soon after being administered the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine by Matron May Parsons at University Hospital in Coventry, she advised people to take it if being offered.

"I can't thank May and the NHS staff enough who have looked after me tremendously, and my advice to anyone offered the vaccine is to take it - if I can have it at 90 then you can have it too," she added.

Margaret Keenan will receive a booster jab in 21 days to ensure she has the best chance of being protected against the coronavirus.

Apart from Margaret Keenan, the second person to have received the Pfizer shot is 81-year-old William Shakespeare from Warwickshire. Also, 87-year-old Dr Hari Shukla and his wife Ranjan (84), became the first ones in Newcastle to get the Pfizer jab, The Sun reported.

Both Keenan and Shakespeare are among the hundreds of old age pensioners (OAPs) and National Health Service (NHS) staff who will receive the vaccine on what is being dubbed V-Day.

Last week, the UK regulators approved the Pfizer vaccine for emergency use.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson-led UK government had placed an order of 40 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine - enough for 20 million people - as two courses are needed.

As per expectations, about 800,000 doses will be available within the first week. The first batch will be administered to people in home care and carers who are over 80 years old and to some health service workers.
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